Monitoring downlink control channels for unlicensed operation

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and storage media are described for monitoring downlink control information (DCI). In particular, some embodiments may be directed to monitoring DCI for an indication of channel occupancy time (COT) information. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/738,193 filed Jan. 9, 2020 and entitled “MONITORING DOWNLINK CONTROLCHANNELS FOR UNLICENSED OPERATION,” which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/790,959 filed Jan. 10, 2019 andentitled “MONITORING DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNELS FOR UNLICENSEDOPERATION”; and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/806,683filed Feb. 15, 2019 and entitled “MONITORING DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNELSFOR UNLICENSED OPERATION,” the entire disclosures of which areincorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the technicalfield of wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure are directedto the monitoring of downlink control information (DCI). In particular,some embodiments may be directed to monitoring DCI for an indication ofchannel occupancy time (COT) information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitatethis description, like reference numerals designate like structuralelements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by wayof limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 illustrate examples of operation flow/algorithmicstructures in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example of downlink control information format2_0 (DCI 2_0) inside a control resource set in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of a DCI 2_0 payload in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 4C illustrates an example of a configuration of slot formatcombinations in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4D illustrates an example of physical downlink control channel(PDCCH) monitoring for DCI 2_0 in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4E illustrates an example of a field for indicating a monitoringperiod in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4F illustrates another example of PDCCH monitoring in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 4G illustrates an example of flags included in DCI 2_0 inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4H illustrates an example of two-step PDCCH monitoring for DCI 2_0in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4I illustrates an example of an indication of COT length inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts an architecture of a system of a network in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts an example of components of a device in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 7 depicts an example of interfaces of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram illustrating components, according tosome embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments discussed herein may relate to monitoring downlink controlinformation (DCI). In particular, some embodiments may be directed tomonitoring DCI for an indication of channel occupancy time (COT)information. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc.,in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofthe claimed invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the invention claimed may be practiced in other examples thatdepart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptionsof well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not toobscure the description of the present invention with unnecessarydetail.

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described usingterms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that alternate embodiments maybe practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes ofexplanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrativeembodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatalternate embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Inother instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in ordernot to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discreteoperations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understandingthe illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description shouldnot be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily orderdependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in theorder of presentation.

The phrase “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and the likemay refer to the same, or different, embodiments. The terms“comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless thecontext dictates otherwise. The phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or(A and B). The phrases “A/B” and “A or B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B),similar to the phrase “A and/or B.” For the purposes of the presentdisclosure, the phrase “at least one of A and B” means (A), (B), or (Aand B). The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” “inembodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and/or “in various embodiments,”which may each refer to one or more of the same or differentembodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,”and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, are synonymous.

Examples of embodiments may be described as a process depicted as aflowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, ora block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as asequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel,concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of theoperations may be re-arranged. A process may be terminated when itsoperations are completed, but may also have additional steps notincluded in the figure(s). A process may correspond to a method, afunction, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, and the like. When aprocess corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to areturn of the function to the calling function and/or the main function.

Examples of embodiments may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program code, softwaremodules, and/or functional processes, being executed by one or more ofthe aforementioned circuitry. The program code, software modules, and/orfunctional processes may include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks orimplement particular data types. The program code, software modules,and/or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented usingexisting hardware in existing communication networks. For example,program code, software modules, and/or functional processes discussedherein may be implemented using existing hardware at existing networkelements or control nodes.

One enhancement for long-term evolution (LTE) systems had been to enablethe operation of cellular networks in the unlicensed spectrum, viaLicensed-Assisted-Access (LAA). Ever since, exploiting the access ofunlicensed spectrum has been considered by 3GPP as one of the promisingsolutions to cope with the ever increasing growth of wireless datatraffic. One of the important considerations for LTE to operate inunlicensed spectrum is to ensure fair co-existence with incumbentsystems like wireless local area networks (WLANs), which has been theprimary focus of the LAA standardization effort.

Following the trend of LTE enhancements, study on NR based access tounlicensed spectrum (NR-unlicensed) has begun, including a study item(SI) on “NR-Based Access to Unlicensed Spectrum.” Within the scope ofthis SI, one of the primary objectives is to identify additionalfunctionalities that are needed for a physical (PHY) layer design of NRto operate in unlicensed spectrum. In particular, it is desirable tominimize the design efforts by identifying enhancements needed to enableunlicensed operation, while avoiding unnecessary divergence from thelicensed framework. Coexistence methods already defined for LTE-basedLAA context should be assumed as the baseline for the operation ofNR-unlicensed systems, while enhancements over these existing methodsare not precluded. NR-based operation in unlicensed spectrum should notimpact deployed Wi-Fi services (data, video and voice services) morethan an additional Wi-Fi network on the same carrier.

NR-unlicensed technologies can be categorized into different modes,viz., Carrier Aggregation (CA), Dual Connectivity (DC) and Standalone(SA) modes of network operation. The channel access mechanism aspect isone of the fundamental building blocks for NR-unlicensed that isessential for any deployment options. The adoption of Listen-Before-Talk(LBT) in LTE based LAA system was crucial in achieving fair coexistencewith the neighboring systems sharing the unlicensed spectrum in additionto fulfilling the regulatory requirements. The LBT based channel accessmechanism fundamentally resembles the WLAN's Carrier Sense MultipleAccess with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) principles. Any node thatintends to transmit in unlicensed spectrum first performs a channelsensing operation before initiating any transmission. An additionalrandom back-off mechanism is adopted to avoid collisions when more thanone nodes senses the channel as idle and transmits simultaneously.

In NR-Unlicensed, the transmitter device can transmit its data payloadby acquiring Channel Occupancy Time (COT), where the transmitter devicecan use the time resource inside the COT by transmitting its own datapayload or share the resource with other devices. If a next-generationNodeB (gNB) acquires a COT, it will use the whole resource inside theCOT. Therefore, the other devices that can receive the gNB signal cannotactually transmit any data during the COT by the LBT regulation.Therefore, it is beneficial for gNB to indicate the COT information toother devices, including the length of the COT or how to share the COTwith other devices, in order that the other devices can just sleepduring the COT or they can transmit if the COT is shared to them.

Some embodiments may include using DCI (Downlink Control Information)format 2_0 for the indication of COT and Physical Downlink ControlChannel (PDCCH) monitoring. In addition to the functionalities providedby DCI format 2_0, the COT structure may be indicated in the timedomain. In some embodiments, the time domain instances in which the UEis expected to receive PDCCH can change dynamically, e.g. by implicitdetermination related to the gNB's COT, or explicitly signalled by thegNB.

DCI format 2_0 was originally designed for indicating slot format to agroup of UEs but it is being discussed to be used for the indication ofCOT. And for indication of the COT, monitoring operation of DCI format2_0 may need to be modified from the regular DCI format 2_0. In theabove context, this disclosure provides solutions to monitor the DCIformat 2_0 for the indication of COT sharing information.

Indicating COT Information by DCI Format 2_0

FIG. 4A illustrates the resource allocation for DCI format 2_0 for NR.First, control resource set (CORESET) is configured in a certain timefrequency resources as shown in blue region. Inside the common PDCCHrecourse set, DCI format 2_0 is transmitted using a PDCCH where CRC ismasked with SFI-RNTI.

DCI format 2_0 is transmitted via PDCCH for a set of UEs in a cell andthis channel at least indicates the slot format related information,i.e., which symbols in a slot are used for DL (D), UL (U), or Flexible(F). DCI format 2_0 includes slot format combination index whichindicates the actual slot format combinations for one or multiple slotsas shown in FIG. 4B. Total size of the DCI 2_0 payload issemi-statically configured and the actual position of the slot formatindicator inside the DCI format 2_0 payload that a UE need to read isalso semi-statically configured by the base station (also referred to asthe “gNB”).

FIG. 4C illustrates an example of how to configure the slot formatcombination from the slot format master table. The slot format mastertable is the whole list of possible combination of D, U and F inside aslot. And RRC configures multiple slot format combination by combiningdifferent slot formats for one or multiple slot lengths and separateindex is given to each slot format combination. For the monitoring ofthe DCI 2_0, control resource set (CORESET) is configured and inside thecommon CORESET, DCI format 2_0 is transmitted using a PDCCH where CRC ismasked with SFI-RNTI.

In one embodiment, each slot format combination comprises one ormultiple slot formats, which means that DCI 2_0 can indicate the lengthof the slot format combination and this can be interpreted by the UE asthe length of the COT acquired by the gNB. For indicating COTinformation, DCI 2_0 may need to be monitored in a certain timegranularity. If the monitoring time granularity is small, then thechannel access efficiency can be increased. However, the UE monitoringbehavior becomes more complicated, which leads to more battery powerconsumption in UE side. If the monitoring time granularity is smaller(e.g., smaller than slot length, mini-slot level monitoring) for betterchannel access, once a COT is acquired by the gNB and if the UE knowsthe length of the COT, then the UE can increase the periodicity of PDCCHmonitoring (e.g., slot level monitoring) during the COT durationindicated by DCI 2_0 for saving the battery power.

The actual monitoring periodicities (one for outside of a COT and theother for inside a COT) can be configured by RRC, or fixed in thespecification, or also indicated by DCI information or a combination ofthem. In one embodiment, a set of periodicity configurations can bedefined or tabulated in the spec. Then, a subset of the items in thetable can be selected by high layers e.g. System information block (SIB)or dedicated RRC signaling. FIG. 4D illustrates an example of the UEmonitoring operation before and after COT is acquired. If the DCI 2_0 isdetected in the middle of the slot, remaining slot may use mini-slotlevel scheduling so that UE may still keep mini-slot level monitoring upto the next slot boundary (or during a pre-defined amount of time).

For achieving different monitoring operation, it is also possible thattype-3 common search space (CSS) is configured with mini-slot levelmonitoring and UE-specific search space (USS) is configured with slotlevel monitoring. Then DCI 2_0 can be transmitted using type-3 CSS andother UE-specific DCIs can be transmitted using USS.

If a UE detects the DCI 2_0 and decode the information of DCI 2_0indicating COT structure, the UE at least knows the length of the COTacquired by the gNB and channel will be occupied during the length ofthe COT. Therefore, the UE does not try to perform access channel to getthe channel at least during the indicated COT duration.

In another embodiment, if a UE detects the DCI 2_0 and decode theinformation of DCI 2_0 indicating COT structure, the UE can know thelength of the COT acquired by the gNB and channel will be occupiedduring the length of the COT. During the COT duration, UE may reduce thePDCCH monitoring once the COT indication is detected by the UE. If DCI2_0 is not correctly received by a UE, if the UE-specific PDCCH maytransmit all the possible scheduling which does not require priorinformation of DCI 2_0. In this case, the UE may need to monitor DCI 2_0and other DCIs every mini-slot granularity unless the UE receives DCI2_0 for COT indication. In some other designs, DCI 2_0 may include afield indicating the monitoring period of UE-specific search space (USS) that UE should monitor for data scheduling within COT. For example,1-bit field may be included to indicate the monitoring period as shownin FIG. 4E.

As one example, a gNB may intend to schedule latency-sensitive trafficapplication and correspondingly UEs may be indicated with “0” tocontinue using mini-slot granularity for PDCCH monitoring. On the otherhand, UE may indicate to use a larger period e.g. slot granularity forPDCCH monitoring if eMBB traffic is targeted so as to minimize the powerconsumption from PDCCH monitoring. Additionally, given the DCI 2_0 issort of cell-specific signaling and applied for all UEs, the UE may begrouped first and then multiple 1-bit fields may be included in DCI 2-0,which is one-to-one associated with UE groups to indicate the PDCCHmonitoring period on a per UE group basis. In some examples, the UE maybe grouped based on the traffic types, e.g., URLLC or eMBB.

In another embodiment, DCI 2_0 can be the pre-requisite for the otherDCIs inside the acquired COT. FIG. 4F illustrates an example of PDCCHmonitoring for DCI 2_0. For example, a UE tries to monitor DCI 2_0 firstfor checking whether the gNB acquires COT or not. If the UE detects DCI2_0 then the UE can now monitor other DCIs according to the COTinformation including DL/UL combination and the length of the COTindicated by DCI 2_0. Here the monitoring for DCI 2_0 can be based onmini-slot granularity and monitoring of other DCI can be based on slotgranularity at least inside the COT duration indicated by DCI 2_0. Sothe monitoring operation can be reduced since UE only monitors DCI 2_0using mini-slot granularity first and then monitor the other DCI usinglarger time granularity, which can reduce the battery consumption of theUE.

According to some embodiments of this disclosure, as shown in FIG. 4G,DCI 2_0 may include a flag indicating the presence of PDCCH within thepartial slot for possible PDSCH scheduling. More specifically, USS mayshare a same starting symbol as search space of DCI 2_0 or a differentstarting symbol with some predefined offset. For the subsequent slots,UE may still monitor PDCCH on USS based on the monitoring periodicityconfigured by RRC on a per UE basis.

Since other DCI is dependent on correct reception of DCI 2_0, thereliable reception of DCI 2_0 is important. For increasing thereliability of DCI 2_0 reception, DCI 2_0 can be repeated for multipleCORESETs using mini-slot level granularity. If the DCI 2_0 is repeatedin multiple CORESETs inside one slot, then the slot format combinationinformation would be the same among the multiple DCI 2_0, so UE canperform soft combining between potential DCI 2_0 positions for DCI 2_0monitoring. Soft combining may not be used for DCI 2_0 monitoring.

For increasing the reliability of DCI 2_0, it is also possible toutilize the wideband DMRS for CORESET where DCI 2_0 is transmitted. Byusing wideband DMRS, the channel estimation performance for DCI 2_0 canbe increased and also DMRS itself can be also used for facilitating ofCOT detection by a UE. This wideband DMRS can be configured by RRC orwideband DMRS is always assumed for the monitoring of DCI 2_0. Inanother embodiment, if COT is indicated by DCI 2_0 to a UE, UE may nottry to monitor DCI 2_0 using a mini-slot level granularity. UE maymonitor DCIs including DCI 2_0 using slot level granularity. Therefore,if it happens that gNB lose the COT and reacquire the COT and the startof the COT is inside the duration of the previous COT, then the DCI 2_0can be transmitted slot-level granularity. Therefore, once the UEdetects the DCI 2_0 and knows the COT information, UE is not expected tomonitor DCIs more often than determined timing granularity (e.g., slotlevel granularity) during the COT duration.

FIG. 4H illustrates an example of two-step PDCCH monitoring for DCI 2_0.In some embodiments, if COT is indicated by DCI 2_0 to a UE, UE may nottry to monitor DCI 2_0 using a mini-slot level granularity. UE maymonitor DCIs including DCI 2_0 using slot level granularity. Therefore,if it happens that gNB lose the COT and reacquire the COT and the startof the COT is inside the duration of the previous COT, then the DCI 2_0can be transmitted slot-level granularity. Therefore, once the UEdetects the DCI 2_0 and knows the COT information, UE is not expected tomonitor DCIs more often than determined timing granularity (e.g., slotlevel granularity) during the COT duration.

In another embodiment, for increasing the reliability of DCI 2_0, it isalso possible to utilize the wideband DMRS for CORESET where DCI 2_0 istransmitted. Wideband DMRS can be realized by assuming the sameprecoding for the PRBs that are contiguous in frequency domain for aCORESET. Or wideband DMRS can be also realized by assuming the sameprecoder granularity for all the PRBs for a CORESET. So for thedetection of DMRS or detection of DCI 2_0 or GC-PDCCH UE may assume sameprecoding for either PRBs that are contiguous in frequency domain for aCORESET or all PRBs for a CORESET unless configured otherwise. And UEmay assume DMRS is transmitted over the all PRBs inside the CORESET

In another embodiment, for increasing the reliability of DCI 2_0, it isalso possible to utilize distributed resources over the frequencydomain. Distributed CORESET resource can be realized by assuminginterleaved CCE (Control Channel Element) to REG (Resource ElementGroup) mapping. So for the detection of DCI 2_0 or GC-PDCCH, UE mayassume interleaved CCE to REG mapping for a CORESET unless configuredotherwise.

In one embodiment, DCI2_0 on GC-PDCCH can be also configured for the UEwhich does not receive any UE-specific configuration. Current DCI 2_0and GC-PDCCH is configured by UE-specific RRC and UE does not able toreceive GC-PDCCH before going into the connected mode where UE-specificRRC is configured. However, COT information may be beneficial for a UEduring the initial access procedure in order to receive and transmitrandom access related channels. For that UE, common control signalingcan be used for configuration GC-PDCCH and system information, e.g.,Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI) or PBCH could be the goodoption for configuring GC-PDCCH for those UEs.

However, the detailed configuration of DCI2_0/GC-PDCCH needs lots ofinformation which is too much overhead for system information, e.g.,RMSI. Therefore, it is important to reduce the configuration overheadfor DCI2_0/GC-PDCCH and only essential information can be included inRMSI.

In some embodiments, the following information could be the candidateinformation for DCI2_0/GC-PDCCH which is used for initial accessprocedure: the COT length in the frequency domain (e.g., the remainingtime of the total COT); the remaining time of an acquired COT in which adownlink transmission is performed; and/or the COT structure in thefrequency domain (e.g., for a cell larger than 20 MHz).

The position of the information for initial access can fixed inside theDCI format 2_0 payload in order for all UEs to understand the exactposition. Other UE-specifically configured information can be positionedanywhere inside the DCI format 2_0 which can avoid collisions with theabove information for initial access since the position can be flexiblyindicated by UE-specific RRC.

This GC-PDCCH for DCI 2_0 can be transmitted in one or more of type0,type 0A, type 1, and type 2 common search spaces in order for UE toreceive GC-PDCCH for the COT used for random access related channels,paging related channels, or system information related channels.

In another embodiment, new DCI format and corresponding GC-PDCCH (or aform of PDCCH) is configured for initial access procedure (and it can bealso used for connected mode procedure after initial access). Theconfiguration of the DCI format and GC-PDCCH, e.g., number of bits, howthe information field consists, which aggregation level is used, whatkind of interleaving is used, REG (resource element group) bundle size,DMRS configuration, is either fixed in the specification or configuredby the system information, e.g., PBCH, RMSI, or OSI (Other SystemInformation). The new DCI format, (which may be referred to herein as“DCI format 2_X”), can indicate a variety of COT information including:the COT length in the frequency domain (e.g., remaining time of thetotal COT); the remaining time of an acquired COT in which downlinktransmission is performed; and/or the COT structure in the frequencydomain (e.g., for a cell larger than 20 MHz).

The GC-PDCCH for DCI format 2_X can be encoded using polar code and theCRC is masked by an ID, where this ID is either fixed in thespecification or configured by system information. And this GC-PDCCH forDCI 2_X can be transmitted in one or more of type0, type OA, type 1, andtype 2 common search spaces in order for UE to receive this GC-PDCCH forthe COT used for random access related channels, paging relatedchannels, or system information related channels. In some embodiments,additional information to indicate the COT structure can be supported byDCI format 2_0 by adding a separate field as illustrated in FIG. 4I.

An indication of the COT can comprise a variety of indicators. In someembodiments, for example, the indication of the COT may include anindication, in terms of one or more frequency sub-bands, within theapplicable BWP, associated with this indication, which may depend on LBTstatus.

In some embodiments, the indication of the COT may include anindication, in terms of a time-interval, of the remaining time of anacquired COT by the gNB. This indication can be used by a UE in theserving cell for determination of LBT type for uplink transmissionwithin that time-interval unless overridden by a gNB indication. Thisbehavior is applicable to the set of associated frequency sub-bands inthe applicable BWP. This can also be used to determine the applicabilityof the associated slot-format related information for the applicableBWP.

In some embodiments, the indication of the COT may include anindication, in terms of a time-interval, of the remaining time of anacquired COT in which the gNB intends to continue downlink transmission(actual downlink transmission may continue after this time). Thisindication can be used by an UE in the serving cell for determining thatno scheduled transmission from the gNB is expected to fail due to LBTfailure during the indicated time-interval. This is applicable to theset of associated frequency sub-bands in the applicable BWP.

In some embodiments, the indication of the COT may include anindication, in terms of a time-interval preceding a transmission, duringwhich the gNB has performed no downlink transmission due to LBT failure.This indication can be used by a UE in the serving cell for determiningthat various monitoring functions like radio link monitoring, energytracking, AGC tracking, etc. performed in such an indicatedtime-interval has not been measured from the serving cell. This isapplicable to the set of associated frequency sub-bands in theapplicable BWP.

In some embodiments, the indication of the COT may include anindication, in terms of a time-interval preceding this transmission,during which the gNB has performed downlink transmission. Thisindication can be used by a UE in the serving cell for determining thatvarious monitoring functions like radio link monitoring, energy envelopetracking, AGC tracking etc. performed in such an indicated time-intervalhas been measured from the serving cell. This is applicable to the setof associated frequency sub-bands in the applicable BWP.

In some embodiments, the indication of the COT may include an indicationof whether configured grant based transmission is allowed in the ULparts of the COT or only scheduled transmission is allowed. If thisindication indicates configured grant based transmission is allowed inthe UL parts, then a UE which is configured with configured grant basedtransmission can get access the uplink part and transmit configuredgrant transmissions.

In one embodiment, additional NW ID information can be included in DCIformat 2_0 (or other DCI if used for NR-U). The position of NW ID can befixed by the specification or configured by higher layer signalinginside the DCI format 2_0 payload as illustrated in FIG. 4I (at the lastpart of DCI 2_0 payload).

In some embodiments, the NW ID can indicate which operator is actuallytransmitting this DCI 2_0. Since the NR-U is using unlicensed band,multiple operators can use the same band. Therefore even if the UEreceives DCI format 2_0 using its cell ID, it may be from the otheroperator which is using the same cell ID. If the UE decodes DCI 2_0 andthe NW ID inside it does not match the its NW ID of interest, then theUE does not need to follow the next procedure based on the informationof received DCI format 2_0 but it can try to decode other DCI format 2_0which has the valid NW ID.

In some embodiments, the NW ID can use the whole high layer ID, e.g.,TMSI or PLMN ID, or the NW ID can be derived from the high layer ID inorder to reduce the number of bits for DCI 2_0. The derivation may usemodulo operation, e.g., NW_ID=(PLMN ID, K), where K is the number ofbits for NW IE in DCI 2_0.

FIG. 5 illustrates an architecture of a system 500 of a network inaccordance with some embodiments. The system 500 is shown to include auser equipment (UE) 501 and a UE 502. The UEs 501 and 502 areillustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computingdevices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may alsocomprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as PersonalData Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers,wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wirelesscommunications interface.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 501 and 502 can comprise an Internetof Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designedfor low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. AnIoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) ormachine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC serveror device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-BasedService (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensornetworks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be amachine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describesinterconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiableembedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), withshort-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications(e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate theconnections of the IoT network.

The UEs 501 and 502 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicativelycouple, with a radio access network (RAN) 510—the RAN 510 may be, forexample, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), orsome other type of RAN. The UEs 501 and 502 utilize connections 503 and504, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communicationsinterface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example,the connections 503 and 504 are illustrated as an air interface toenable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellularcommunications protocols, such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA)network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular(POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation(5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In this embodiment, the UEs 501 and 502 may further directly exchangecommunication data via a ProSe interface 505. The ProSe interface 505may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising oneor more logical channels, including but not limited to a PhysicalSidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel(PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a PhysicalSidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE 502 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 506via connection 507. The connection 507 can comprise a local wirelessconnection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11protocol, wherein the AP 506 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®)router. In this example, the AP 506 is shown to be connected to theInternet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system(described in further detail below).

The RAN 510 can include one or more access nodes that enable theconnections 503 and 504. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to asbase stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next GenerationNodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations(e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providingcoverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 510 mayinclude one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RANnode 511, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells orpicocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power(LP) RAN node 512.

Any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 can terminate the air interfaceprotocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 501 and 502.In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 can fulfillvarious logical functions for the RAN 510 including, but not limited to,radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearermanagement, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management anddata packet scheduling, and mobility management.

In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 501 and 502 can beconfigured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any ofthe RAN nodes 511 and 512 over a multicarrier communication channel inaccordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limitedto, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SingleCarrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communicationtechnique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications),although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 to the UEs 501 and502, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The gridcan be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequencyresource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in eachslot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practicefor OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resourceallocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds toone OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration ofthe resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radioframe. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted asa resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resourceblocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels toresource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection ofresource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent thesmallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. Thereare several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed usingsuch resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data andhigher-layer signaling to the UEs 501 and 502. The physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport formatand resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among otherthings. It may also inform the UEs 501 and 502 about the transportformat, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request)information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlinkscheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to theUE 502 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 511 and512 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs501 and 502. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent onthe PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 501 and 502.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the controlinformation. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCHcomplex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, whichmay then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, whereeach CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can betransmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of thedownlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There canbe four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with differentnumbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for controlinformation transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one ormore enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, eachECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may haveother numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN 510 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network(CN) 520—via an S1 interface 513. In embodiments, the CN 520 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network,or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, the S1 interface 513 issplit into two parts: the S1-U interface 514, which carries traffic databetween the RAN nodes 511 and 512 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 522,and the S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 515, which is asignaling interface between the RAN nodes 511 and 512 and MMEs 521.

In this embodiment, the CN 520 comprises the MMEs 521, the S-GW 522, thePacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 523, and a home subscriberserver (HSS) 524. The MMEs 521 may be similar in function to the controlplane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) SupportNodes (SGSN). The MMEs 521 may manage mobility aspects in access such asgateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 524 maycomprise a database for network users, including subscription-relatedinformation to support the network entities' handling of communicationsessions. The CN 520 may comprise one or several HSSs 524, depending onthe number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, onthe organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 canprovide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization,naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 513 towards the RAN 510, androutes data packets between the RAN 510 and the CN 520. In addition, theS-GW 522 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN nodehandovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Otherresponsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policyenforcement.

The P-GW 523 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 523may route data packets between the EPC network and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 530 (alternativelyreferred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP)interface 525. Generally, the application server 530 may be an elementoffering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network(e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). Inthis embodiment, the P-GW 523 is shown to be communicatively coupled toan application server 530 via an IP communications interface 525. Theapplication server 530 can also be configured to support one or morecommunication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networkingservices, etc.) for the UEs 501 and 502 via the CN 520.

The P-GW 523 may further be a node for policy enforcement and chargingdata collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 526 isthe policy and charging control element of the CN 520. In a non-roamingscenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land MobileNetwork (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol ConnectivityAccess Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with localbreakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE'sIP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF(V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF526 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 530 via theP-GW 523. The application server 530 may signal the PCRF 526 to indicatea new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS)and charging parameters. The PCRF 526 may provision this rule into aPolicy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with theappropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier(QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by theapplication server 530.

FIG. 6 illustrates example components of a device 600 in accordance withsome embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 600 may includeapplication circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF)circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, one or moreantennas 610, and power management circuitry (PMC) 612 coupled togetherat least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 600 may beincluded in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 600 mayinclude fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize applicationcircuitry 602, and instead include a processor/controller to process IPdata received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 600 mayinclude additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage,display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In otherembodiments, the components described below may be included in more thanone device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in morethan one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

The application circuitry 602 may include one or more applicationprocessors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core ormulti-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphicsprocessors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupledwith or may include memory/storage and may be configured to executeinstructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applicationsor operating systems to run on the device 600. In some embodiments,processors of application circuitry 602 may process IP data packetsreceived from an EPC.

The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Thebaseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors orcontrol logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signalpath of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for atransmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. Baseband processingcircuitry 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 forgeneration and processing of the baseband signals and for controllingoperations of the RF circuitry 606. For example, in some embodiments,the baseband circuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) basebandprocessor 604A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604B, afifth generation (5G) baseband processor 604C, or other basebandprocessor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations indevelopment or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation(2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 604 (e.g.,one or more of baseband processors 604A-D) may handle various radiocontrol functions that enable communication with one or more radionetworks via the RF circuitry 606. In other embodiments, some or all ofthe functionality of baseband processors 604A-D may be included inmodules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a Central ProcessingUnit (CPU) 604E. The radio control functions may include, but are notlimited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 604 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution,turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoderfunctionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation andencoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and mayinclude other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include one or moreaudio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F. The audio DSP(s) 604F maybe include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellationand may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in asingle chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board insome embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituentcomponents of the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry602 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on achip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may supportcommunication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network(EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN).Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to supportradio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referredto as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which mayinclude circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 608 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 mayinclude mixer circuitry 606 a, amplifier circuitry 606 b and filtercircuitry 606 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RFcircuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606 c and mixer circuitry 606a. RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606 d forsynthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606 a of thereceive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments,the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path may be configuredto down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based onthe synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606 d. Theamplifier circuitry 606 b may be configured to amplify thedown-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606 c may be a low-passfilter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwantedsignals from the down-converted signals to generate output basebandsignals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the basebandcircuitry 604 for further processing. In some embodiments, the outputbaseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although thisis not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606 a of thereceive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 606 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry606 a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and maybe arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path may be arrangedfor direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path may be configuredfor super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 606.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 606 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606 a of the RFcircuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. Insome embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be a fractionalN/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 orthe applications processor 602 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplications processor 602.

Synthesizer circuitry 606 d of the RF circuitry 606 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or moreantennas 610, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one ormore of the one or more antennas 610. In various embodiments, theamplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be donesolely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM 608, or in both the RFcircuitry 606 and the FEM 608.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a lownoise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide theamplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include apower amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RFcircuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals forsubsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or moreantennas 610).

In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may manage power provided to thebaseband circuitry 604. In particular, the PMC 612 may controlpower-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DCconversion. The PMC 612 may often be included when the device 600 iscapable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device isincluded in a UE. The PMC 612 may increase the power conversionefficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heatdissipation characteristics.

FIG. 6 shows the PMC 612 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 604.However, in other embodiments, the PMC 612 may be additionally oralternatively coupled with, and perform similar power managementoperations for, other components such as, but not limited to,application circuitry 602, RF circuitry 606, or FEM 608.

In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if thedevice 600 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected tothe RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may entera state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period ofinactivity. During this state, the device 600 may power down for briefintervals of time and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time,then the device 600 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where itdisconnects from the network and does not perform operations such aschannel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 600 goes into a verylow power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakesup to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 600may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC_Connected state.

An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable tothe network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging fromseconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totallyunreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sentduring this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay isacceptable.

Processors of the application circuitry 602 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 604 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 604, alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 602 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from theselayers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmissioncommunication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers).As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control(RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein,Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio linkcontrol (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described infurther detail below.

FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the basebandcircuitry 604 of FIG. 6 may comprise processors 604A-604E and a memory604G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 604A-604E mayinclude a memory interface, 704A-704E, respectively, to send/receivedata to/from the memory 604G.

The baseband circuitry 604 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memoryinterface 712 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memoryexternal to the baseband circuitry 604), an application circuitryinterface 714 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from theapplication circuitry 602 of FIG. 6), an RF circuitry interface 716(e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 606 ofFIG. 6), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 718 (e.g., aninterface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC)components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi®components, and other communication components), and a power managementinterface 720 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or controlsignals to/from the PMC 612.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 8 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 800 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 810, one or more memory/storage devices820, and one or more communication resources 830, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 840. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 802 may be executedto provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 800.

The processors 810 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit(RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) mayinclude, for example, a processor 812 and a processor 814.

The memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk storage, orany suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 820 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 830 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 804 or one or more databases 806 via anetwork 808. For example, the communication resources 830 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components,Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components.

Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein. The instructions 850 may reside, completely or partially, withinat least one of the processors 810 (e.g., within the processor's cachememory), the memory/storage devices 820, or any suitable combinationthereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 850 may betransferred to the hardware resources 800 from any combination of theperipheral devices 804 or the databases 806. Accordingly, the memory ofprocessors 810, the memory/storage devices 820, the peripheral devices804, and the databases 806 are examples of computer-readable andmachine-readable media.

In various embodiments, the devices/components of FIGS. 5-8, andparticularly the baseband circuitry of FIG. 7, may be used to practice,in whole or in part, any of the operation flow/algorithmic structuresdepicted in FIGS. 1-3.

One example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depicted inFIG. 1, which may be performed by a next-generation NodeB (gNB) inaccordance with some embodiments. In this example, operationflow/algorithmic structure 100 may include, at 105, retrieving channeloccupancy time (COT) information from a memory. Operationflow/algorithmic structure 100 may further include, at 110, generating amessage that includes downlink control information (DCI), wherein theDCI is to indicate the COT information. Operation flow/algorithmicstructure 100 may further include, at 115, encoding the message fortransmission to a UE.

Another example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depictedin FIG. 2, which may be performed by a UE in accordance with someembodiments. In this example, operation flow/algorithmic structure 200may include, at 205, receiving a message comprising downlink controlinformation (DCI) that indicates channel occupancy time (COT)information. Operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may furtherinclude, at 210, determining a monitoring periodicity based on the DCI.

Another example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depictedin FIG. 3, which may be performed by a gNB in accordance with someembodiments. In this example, operation flow/algorithmic structure 300may include, at 305, generating a downlink control information (DCI)message, wherein the DCI is to indicate channel occupancy time (COT)information. Operation flow/algorithmic structure 300 may furtherinclude, at 310, encoding the message for transmission to a userequipment (UE).

EXAMPLES

Some non-limiting examples are provided below.

Example 1 includes an apparatus comprising: memory to store channeloccupancy time (COT) information; and processing circuitry, coupled withthe memory, to: retrieve the COT information from the memory; generate amessage that includes downlink control information (DCI), wherein theDCI is to indicate the COT information; and encode the message fortransmission to a user equipment (UE).

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the DCI is downlink control information format 2_0 (DCI2_0).

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 2 or some other exampleherein, wherein the COT information includes a COT length that isindicated in the DCI 2_0 using a slot format combination length.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 2 or some other exampleherein, wherein the DCI 2_0 includes a field to indicate a monitoringperiod of a search space.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 4 or some other exampleherein, wherein the field is a one-bit field to indicate either: a firstperiod (T1); or a second period (T2).

Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the DCI is to indicate the COT information via anindication of one or more frequency sub-bands within a bandwidth part(BWP).

Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the DCI includes a remaining time of an acquired COT inwhich a downlink transmission is performed.

Example 8 includes the apparatus of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the message is encoded for transmission via a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) or a group common physical downlinkcontrol channel (GC-PDCCH).

Example 9 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediastoring instructions that, when executed by one or more processors,cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive a message comprising downlinkcontrol information (DCI) that indicates channel occupancy time (COT)information; and determine a monitoring periodicity based on the DCI.

Example 10 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein the DCI is adownlink control information format 2_0 (DCI 2_0), wherein the COTinformation includes a COT length that is indicated in the DCI 2_0 usinga slot format combination length, and wherein a monitoring period of asearch space is indicated in the DCI 2_0 using a one-bit field.

Example 11 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein the DCIindicates the COT information via an indication of one or more frequencysub-bands within a bandwidth part (BWP).

Example 12 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein the DCIincludes a remaining time of an acquired COT in which a downlinktransmission is performed.

Example 13 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein the message isreceived via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a groupcommon physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH).

Example 14 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediastoring instructions that, when executed by one or more processors,cause a next-generation NodeB (gNB) to: generate a downlink controlinformation (DCI) message, wherein the DCI is to indicate channeloccupancy time (COT) information; and encode the message fortransmission to a user equipment (UE).

Example 15 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the DCI isdownlink control information format 2_0 (DCI 2_0).

Example 16 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 15 or some other example herein, wherein the COTinformation includes a COT length that is indicated in the DCI 2_0 usinga slot format combination length, and wherein the COT information isindicated in the DCI 2_0 via an indication of one or more frequencysub-bands within a bandwidth part (BWP).

Example 17 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 15 or some other example herein, wherein the DCI 2_0includes a field to indicate a monitoring period of a search space.

Example 18 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 17 or some other example herein, wherein the field is aone-bit field to indicate either: a first period (T1); or a secondperiod (T2).

Example 19 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the DCIincludes a remaining time of an acquired COT in which a downlinktransmission is performed.

Example 20 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the message isencoded for transmission via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)or a group common physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH).

Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 24 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-20, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-20, or portions thereof.

Example 26 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 27 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 28 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

The description herein of illustrated implementations, including what isdescribed in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe present disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. While specificimplementations and examples are described herein for illustrativepurposes, a variety of alternate or equivalent embodiments orimplementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be made inlight of the above detailed description, without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

1.-20. (canceled)
 21. One or more computer-readable media storinginstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are to causea user equipment (UE) to: receive a message comprising downlink controlinformation format 2_0 (DCI 2_0) that indicates channel occupancy time(COT) information, wherein the COT information includes a field toindicate a monitoring period of a search space; and determine amonitoring periodicity based on the DCI 2_0.
 22. The one or morecomputer-readable media of claim 21, wherein the COT information in theDCI 2_0 includes slot format information.
 23. The one or morecomputer-readable media of claim 21, wherein the COT information in theDCI 2_0 includes an indication of a time duration of a COT initiated bya next-generation NodeB (gNB).
 24. The one or more computer-readablemedia of claim 23, wherein the media further stores instructions tocause the UE to configure an uplink (UL) transmission based on theindication of the time duration of the COT initiated by the gNB.
 25. Theone or more computer-readable media of claim 21, wherein the message isreceived via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a groupcommon physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH).
 26. An apparatus ofa next-generation NodeB (gNB) comprising: memory to store channeloccupancy time (COT) information; and processing circuitry, coupled withthe memory, to: retrieve the COT information from the memory; generate amessage that includes downlink control information format 2_0 (DCI 2_0),wherein the DCI 2_0 is to indicate the COT information, and wherein theDCI 2_0 includes a field to indicate a monitoring period of a searchspace; and encode the message for transmission to a user equipment (UE).27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the COT information in the DCI2_0 includes slot format information.
 28. The apparatus of claim 26,wherein the COT information in the DCI 2_0 includes an indication of atime duration of a COT initiated by the gNB.
 29. The apparatus of claim26, wherein the message is encoded for transmission via a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) or a group common physical downlinkcontrol channel (GC-PDCCH).
 30. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by oneor more processors, cause a next-generation NodeB (gNB) to: generate adownlink control information format 2_0 (DCI 2_0) message, wherein theDCI 2_0 message comprises COT information that includes a field toindicate a monitoring period of a search space; and encode the messagefor transmission to a user equipment (UE).
 31. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 30, wherein the COTinformation in the DCI 2_0 includes slot format information.
 32. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 30, wherein theCOT information in the DCI 2_0 includes an indication of a time durationof a COT initiated by the gNB.
 33. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 30, wherein the message is encoded fortransmission via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a groupcommon physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH).